Customer relations

Management approach customer relations

The most important part of the market cultivation activities is carried out by the employees in field service at the various local sales companies. They are in daily contact with wholesalers, plumbers, sanitary engineers, architects, investors and end users. In an extraordinarily difficult market environment with a declining building construction industry, Geberit intensified its customer contacts compared to the previous year. These increasingly used the possibilities offered by hybrid sales, where personal contact is combined with digital resources such as video calls or video conferences.

Geberit provides its customers – notably plumbers and sanitary engineers – with a wide, proven range of training courses. In the reporting year, some 60,000 professionals (previous year 48,000) were provided with education and further training on products, tools, software tools and installation skills at 30 Geberit Information Centres in Europe and overseas. At the same time, counter days and local and digital events were organised in numerous markets – often together with wholesalers – to train craftsmen on new products. More than 61,000 customers (previous year 75,000) took part in such events, of which 1,300 in digital formats. Web-based seminars and training courses now occupy a firm and important place in Geberit’s training offer. 18,000 people took part in the past year (previous year 19,000). This figure also includes those who participated in the Geberit Campus, an online training platform that offers eLearning courses on a range of different skills as part of a self-study programme and was launched in the DACH markets last spring.

In Geberit’s three-stage “go-to-market” model, wholesalers play a key role. Wholesalers offer sanitary specialists the entire range of products across the various product categories in the field of sanitary technology and heating applications. They ensure product availability through warehousing and a comprehensive network of pick-up points as well as the logistics to plumbing companies and construction sites. Furthermore, in many countries wholesalers have showrooms where they can advise end users on their product selection.

For customers with a focus on sustainability, Geberit can also demonstrate its sustainability performance via its EcoVadis rating. Despite increased requirements, Geberit achieved a very good score of 76 out of 100 points (previous year 76 out of 100 points), ranking in the 98th percentile of all companies assessed and thus being awarded a Gold Medal. Gold is the second-highest possible rating awarded following the annual evaluation. Geberit thus finds itself in the top five percent of rated companies.

EcoVadis is one of the world’s largest providers of business sustainability ratings and has created a global network of over 100,000 companies in around 180 countries. The comprehensive analysis takes into account 21 criteria in the areas Environment, Labour & Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement, and contributes towards ensuring transparency in sustainability performance of the companies. The high rating shows both customers and suppliers that Geberit has a comprehensive, systematic sustainability management in place.

For further information on customer relations, see Business Report > Business and financial review > Financial Year 2023 > Customers.